“Steiner’s fraudulent takedown notice forced WordPress to take down Hotham’s post under threat of losing the protection of the DMCA safe harbour,” explained WordPress.

“Steiner did not do this to protect any legitimate intellectual property interest, but in an attempt to censor Hotham’s lawful expression critical of Straight Pride UK He forced WordPress to delete perfectly lawful content from its website. As a result, WordPress has suffered damage to its reputation.”

Judge Joseph Spero, the US Magistrate presiding over the case, declared Nick Steiner was to pay $960 to Hotham, $1,860 to WordPress, and $22,264 for WordPress’ attorney fees.

It’s an especially important case, largely because it’s rare for a company to challenge a DMCA takedown notice.

The repercussions for failing to adhere to the DMCA can lead to hefty fines against a content host, so it’s good to see abuse of the system is being cracked down on.

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